Tehran, Caracas, and Moscow have been running a secretive air bridge just as Iran appears to be surging its transfer of attack drones to Russia, raising questions about whether these activities are linked.
As Biden considers whether to ease sanctions on Venezuela to boost oil supplies, officials should take a closer look at potentially related events in Ukraine, where Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones buzz over cities and detonate their high-explosive payloads on civilian infrastructure.
Venezuela has been under U.S. sanctions for years, in part due to close ties with Iran.
Apparently undeterred, President Nicolas Maduro visited Tehran last summer, resulting in a long-term cooperation agreement that included the resumption of weekly airline flights between the two capitals in July (the route had been suspended since 2015, presumably due to foreign pressure).
Source: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy